i'm craig melvin in for tamron hall. following a back and forth but no move forward in washington with five days to keep the country from going over the so-called fiscal cliff. president obama in d.c. a few hours ago after scrapping the rest of the holiday vacation in hawaii. before his departure, the president called all four congressional leaders, reid, mcconnell, boehner and pelosi. now fiery words after reid hit boehner with volley after volley from the senate floor earlier today. >> if we go over the cliff and it looks like that's where we're headed, mr. president, the house of representatives as we speak with four days after today aren't here with the speaker having told them they'll have 48-hours notice. i can't imagine their conscie e consciences. >> speaker boehner's office responding with a terse statement saying in part, quote, senator reid should talk less

and legislate more. the house already passed legislation to avoid the entire fiscal cliff. senate democrats have not. joining me now from d.c. nbc news white house correspondent peter alexander. peter, there was word the last hour that the president may have sent some sort of deal. the white house then turning around saying that's not true at all. where was the confusion? >> reporter: well, you hear the frosty statements back and forth as you just indicated there, craig. ah, the holidays in washington. a lovely time, isn't it? right now it appears clear if there's conversation going on it is not happening between the primary players but perhaps between their surrogates, senior staff and others, between those on the hill and here at the white house right now but senior white house -- senior administration official told me a short time ago that there is no proposal being sent up to the hill today. harry reid, the senate majority leader, also denied that any such thing was taking place today. both of those denials do also

come against the backdrop of the fact both sides acknowledged this is not something they plan to litigate in public and underscores the real challenges that do exist, craig, now with barely 100 hours until the fiscal cliff deadline. two sides made it very clear. john boehner couldn't pass with house republicans the idea of raising taxes only on those making more than a million dollars. the president has insisted throughout that $250,000 had been his limit. it's bumped up to $400,000. but even when they were within just a couple hundred billion dollars, which seems like a lot to you and me but it is not a lot in the language of washington, then they went opposite directions an enwhere the political particular sis stands at this moment. >> all right. peter and alexander, thank you good sir. joining me now karen bass of california. congresswoman, good to see you and nice to see you there from the capitol. you are still in california because house members, again, haven't been called back and given the 48-hour notice to my

knowledge. have you? >> exactly. i have flights scheduled every day waiting for that notice to come. i think it is a shame. i think the house should be back in business in d.c. right now. the senate's in session. there's no reason for us to be at home. >> i want play another one of senator reid's comments leveled at speaker boehner and get your reaction on the other side. take a listen. >> sure. >> the american people i don't think understand the house of representatives is operating without the house of representatives. it's being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker. >> is that why you guys haven't been called back yet? is the speaker a dictator? >> well, i think if the speaker was a dictator he would have had the votes he needed for the plan "b." i mean, i think, you know, the situation in the house is that they have this policy that they won't put up a bill unless they can get 100% of their caucus to vote. if he would put up the bill that

already passed the senate, that keeps the tax cuts for people who earn $250,000 and below, i believe although i can't speak on behalf of my caucus, i believe there would be enough democratic votes with a few republican votes but he insists on doing it another way. i don't think it's a dictatorship, though, because he doesn't have control over his own caucus. >> talk about the timetable here. if a deal gets done, ideally, and again, there's confusion over whether it has to get down before the start of the year, at this point, is it feasible that a deal could even get done before december 31st or on december 31st, even? >> i'll tell you that i have always been optimistic. i'm being less optimistic now but it is still possible so, for example, if you remember last year, the payroll tax cut, there was a deal that was made within the leadership, the house was at home but they decided to pass the deal that came out of the senate on unanimous consent in

the house. so it is possible but i have to tell you that every day it makes it feel less and less feasible. >> let's just say for instance a short-term deal gets done this time around and most folks don't think that a raising of the debt speed limit part of that deal and might be back at a similar place in two months. no? >> exactly. that's exactly right. but i think the responsible thing to do is to go ahead and extend the tax cuts for 98% of the united states public. 97% of small businesses. raise the debt limit. extend unemployment insurance. that's the responsible thing to do. now, we'll see what comes out of the house and i tell you, it e' scarier and scarier by the hour. >> especially for folks watching and millions of americans to see the taxes go up at the start of the year. congresswoman, absolutely so much. >> absolutely. >> i appreciate your time. >> thank you. joining me is rachel smoke

from politico there. zachary carabel and democratic strategist david goodfriend. only gentleman here not wearing a tie for some reason. no tamron, no tie. >> i'm in new york city with you guys today and i'm going tieless in honor of it. i think it's the only way to go. >> pick it up with rachel. we'll start with you. this exchange between senator reid and speaker boehner, when's the inside baseball here? is this more about establishing who could very well get the blame if all of this continues to go south? >> that's right. happy new years, america. we appear poised to dive off the fiscal cliff starting with a round of finger pointing today. this is classic gridlocked washington. why america is fed up with the lawmakers and all about pointing fingers, gaining the upper hand here. and also, gaming this out because if we do dive off the cliff an we don't get a deal in the next couple of days, which

looks increasingly like where we're headed then we come back in january and have to negotiate again and a political advantage for both sides if that's the case. >> her's the thing. even if a deal does get done at this point, it's a small deal. much smaller deal than both sides said they wanted several months ago. the debt ceiling, will be back in two months. there's a good chance we are going to be revisiting a budget issue in march, as well. is this the new d.c. zachary? >> well, it's kind of an old d.c. and the current version, you know, 4.0. and you're absolutely right. it's convenient because there's a news hook for the fiscal cliff for january 1st and calling this now b.c. before cliff, and coming back after january 1st and a.c. and talking about the same level of what do we do about the issues? because even though we're focused on a deal -- >> right. >> -- the reality here is there are spending and revenue issues irrespective of a deal not

solving them by midnight on december 31st and talking about a suite for issues for many months and the debt ceiling raising this yet again in a different form but taxes are going up nominally on january 1st. >> why not call the house back? what's the thinking here in not at least having the 435 me believes of the house of representatives in d.c. and other business they could be handling and politically, when's the thinking here? >> are you asking me to act rationally on behalf of john boehner? i have to tell you something, i cannot figure out this man's thinking. here's point number one. every poll shows that americans blame republicans in the house more than the president going over the cliff. why is it in their political self interest to do that? one reason is these members are now in safe districts drawn by republican legislatures and don't feel any pressure other than from the right ian maybe an explanation and going to hurt the republican party.

number two, i don't understand why mr. boehner wouldn't at least take a deal now and pivot on to another issue, that politically makes a lot of sense for him. okay, okay. you got me on taxes and this. now let's talk about the other things that matter. that would make a lot of sense politically. you asking me why would he not bring the house back, that assumes a rational play here. i don't see him behaving as a rational leader on this. >> there's no election for 22 months and as everyone knows, polls now about predictable capacity in november of 2014 are useless and the republicans know they can be incredibly unpopular and in defacto terms, changes nothing in washington other than unpopular. unpopular in october of 2014, they have a problem. if they're unpopular in january of 2013, you have gridlock in washington. >> who makes the next move? >> senator mcconnell's probably in the best position. he's in very close touch with the president, the white house and democrats in both the senate

and the house have been in very close coordination throughout this. they have been in lockstep. it was interesting to note that when we saw the plan "b" chaos just before christmas the house democrats stood firm. they stood united. historically, that's not the play of the democratic party but that does seem to be where the democrats are right now. the president is back today so there can be an opportunity for some discussions to resume. but boehner has made it clear that's it up to the senate at least in his opinion to make the next move. >> david, senator reid today accused speaker boehner of ca caring more about his job than, quote, keeping america on firm financial footing. >> right. >> that's the quote there. congressman tom cole asked about that earlier today. this was his answer. take a listen. >> he had the complete support of everybody for plan "b" and support in terms of speakership for most of the members opposed

so this is a tactical debate and discussion and not over the leadership of john boehner. he will be the speaker. not for two years but for four. >> is it better for the white house for him to be speaker? >> i think what the congressman just alluded to was a little bit of a bait and switch because what majority leader reid is pointing out is that first and foremost it appears that speaker boehner wants to be re-elected as speaker. doing something now prior to the new congress to come in, could threaten the re-election as speaker. if he can put this off until he's firmly established the speakership for the next congress, and then does a deal, presumably he would be buying himself some more time. i guess. i'm trying to think what's forcing this man to do this but you heard the congresswoman bass say if you would bring it up for a vote, anything, either the president's office or passed through the senate, bring it up for a vote and we might see some

traction there. he's clearly afraid to get something passed in a bipartisan fashion. >> go ahead. >> i mean, look. the irony here is by virtue of doing nothing by january 1st and the democrats are not shrouded in glory. i don't think reid's comments are helpful but by doing nothing, they do something and literally more than they've been able to do for the past four years which is a draconian and effective revenue enhancer and spending decreaser. i don't think this is the way to go about our long-term fiscal health. >> yeah. >> but weirdly enough, their inactivity leads to more constructive moving of the needle in the bigger picture than any else. >> can i jump in? that is just so right. $10 trillion of additional revenue from letting the bush tax cuts sunset. $10 trillion. you reduce spending by 4

trillion, you have brought gdp and debt in to a healthier balance. you are right. by doing nothing, we accomplish something. the most fundamentally restructuring of defense spending in a generation or more. maybe that's worth resetting the baseline because let's face it. if they're in place and then we come back to negotiations, that's the reality. >> right. >> that's the new baseline. that may be a healthier place to start. >> i wish we didn't have to go through the pain to get there. >> rachel, what can we expect next from the president at this point? >> we can expect him to stick with what he said already which is what he wants something done before the new year. and he made clear that we're looking at a dramatically down scaled deal if we get one at all. he said he would like to see the bigger plan but right before going to hawaii he said he knows that's not going to happen. at this point, getting a deal at all. we are looking at just pushing back the sequester and maybe getting some of the middle class tax cuts the president campaigned on and in part won

re-election on. we'll see what happens over the next few days. there is some political advantage to waiting to go off the fiscal cliff and coming back in january. the house speaker john boehner may have more flexibility as we're just saying. so that's one plus and democrats also will have a strengthened position in the congress come january. >> if republicans wait until the start of the new congress they can say, you know what? we voted to lower taxes. >> exactly. >> they just went up. >> i want to end with you here because we spend a lot of time talking about the fiscal cliff and the fact of the matter is the sequestration is fazed in. >> right. >> when you start talking about some of these taxes, whether it's the ending of unemployment insurance -- >> yeah. >> whether it's the payroll tax holiday going away, you start talking about an immediate impact for millions of families in this country. >> part of david's spoipoint is there's two to three-month wriggle room and shifting

resources to unemployment insurance to keeping marginal tax rates unchanged, you know, for the next few months. at some point, look, they won't be able to do that. i would say it's unlikely wow won't have an extension of unemployment benefits no matter whether the election is, that's not politically tenable. this will start biting. i doubt you get the worst effects on the people least able to bear them long term, meaning the unemployed and impoverished and struggling and something done about that because there's no political will to do nothing about that. >> rachel, zachary, david, thank you so much. do appreciate your time. >> thank you. well, we're following developing news from the senate at this hour. just a few minutes, vice president joe biden speaking in hawaii lieutenant governor schatz. ko coming up, why the governor ignored the death bed wishes of the senator asking for someone

else to fill the seat. mark murray will join me live. plus, that massive winter storm blamed for killing 15 as it creates more trouble for travel everies returning home from the holidays. russia's president says he, quote, doesn't see any reasons he shouldn't sign a bill banning americans from adopting russian children. don't forget as always, join the conversation. we are on twitter. there's our handle right there. we'll be right back. new years clutter is no match for someone with big ideas. with a new project in mind, some how-to knowledge to give us an

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winter storm moved across the country this week is now claimed 15 lives. the massive storm is finally

moving out but not before leaving thousands of holiday travelers stranded. more than 2,000 flights have been canceled in 3 days leaving a backlog of flight that is will take days to make up and today forecasters are tracking a new storm that could continue to disrupt travel in to the week. julie martin at new york's laguardia airport. >> reporter: well, a very busy day here at the new york airports but not as busy in terms of cancelations fortunately as yesterday. in fact, system wide yesterday we saw about 1,600 flights canceled across the u.s., hundreds of them were here at the new york airports but as of today so far just about 50 or so in and out of laguardia. about the same for jfk and newark. one of the big reasons, the weather is improving. we're still seeing some low ceilings here but the rain has all but moved out of new york city and those winds which have been the big problem have died down in to the teens so that's

really no issue for the pilots here. what is still an issue, though, is the fact that so many people are traveling for the holidays, trying to get home from the holidays or get to the next holiday destination for the new year and unfortunately we have another storm system that's going to be working its way in to the northeast in the next couple of days, just in time for the new yore's holiday so, in fact, we could see more stranded travelers over the weekend in and out of new york city. from la guard yarks i'm meteorologist julie martin of the weather channel. back to you, craig. >> thanks to you. coming up, the latest on former president bush's health after a spokesperson said the former president has suffered a, quote, series of setbacks. plus, new details about senator mike crapo's arrest for drunk driving. it is just one of the things we thought you should know. look, if you have copd like me,

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first worries about the health of former president george h.w. bush. the 88-year-old is in intensive care after a persistent fever took a turn for the worst yesterday. he is kept in guarded condition and doctors say they remain cautiously optimistic about his treatment. we have the very latest from houston. charles, what can you tell us? >> reporter: hi, craig. a spokesman for the bush family says that the former president continues to battle a sustained and prolonged fever. in fact, the spokesman said late yesterday that mr. bush, in fact, had been moved to the intensive care unit here at methodist hospital here on sunday and on a liquid diet since yesterday and in icu because of his advanced age. he is 88 years old and because of his weakness. he's been in the hospital now for over a month. he was admitted on november 23rd

suffering from a chronic cough. a cough that turned in to a fever last week and now doctors are trying to figure out exactly what is causing that fever. that being said, the doctors according to the spokesman are saying that they're cautiously optimistic that mr. bush will make a recovery. he's certainly getting help from the family and friends. barbara bush, the former first lady, at his side. other family members here. his daughter was here yesterday and christmas day, neil his son, and his family enjoyed a chinese meal in the hospital room with the president. >> charles hadlock from houston, thank you. >> reporter: sure. up next, democratic congressman pascrell to rejacket to the negotiations in the fiscal cliff and hundreds of teachers are being offered free firearms training in utah. do you think it's a good idea to carry concealed weapons to school? it is the "news nation" gut

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steny hoyer urged them to come back to work and find a solution. >> i hope they can conclude as we have concluded and i speak for leader pelosi, myself and all of the democratic leadership that we must come back as soon as possible to work together to reach a compromise to assure that we are address the importance legislation that is still pending in this congress. a congress i believe is the least productive, most con front asianal and least compromising congress in which i have concerned and i've been here since 1981. >> that's saying a lot. at this point, it's not clear whether that conference call we mentioned with the house republicans, it's not clear whether that call meant to give members the 48-hour notice to get back to work. with five days before the spending cuts and tax hikes to take effect, we learned today that negotiators are talking. the white house says the

president spoke with aum congressional leaders by phone last night. mike viqueira from the white house. >> reporter: there are reports that the president put forward a proposal, wanted to put it in the legislative language and working with democrats. there was a tweet of senator scott brown until january 3rd coming back to d.c. because he was hearing reports of a possible piece of legislation. that got everybody in a frenzy until it was completely, thoroughly shot down by both the white house and many senior aides here on the senate side. so basically, craig, we are nowhere. if house is out of town. the speaker of the house john boehner says it's up to harry reid and the senators and up to mitch mcconnell to allow an up or down vote for 50 and not 60

votes. meanwhile, mitch mcconnell says it's up to the president to act and to lead. i mean, basically, what we have is the president insisting on the package that he's insisted on all along. those making more than $250,000 to have the taxes raised, some january 1st. nonstarter. abundantly clear in the house of representatives. there's some question here and harry reid said he expects to go over the fiscal cliff. can there be a retroactive package passed to help stave off the dramatic series of tax hikes for all americans? >> the office of mcconnell releasing a statement acknowledging that conversation with the president last night. >> reporter: yeah. >> in that statement he wrote in part, quote, the leaders happy to review what the president has in mind but to date the senate democratic majority has not put

forward a plan. how much pressure does that then put on speaker boener? >> reporter: speaker boehner said himself, you may have heard this, if -- every day would be christmas. there's ifs in there. hypotheticals, they could come up with something that's appetizing to mitch mcconnell and up for re-election in two years and doesn't want to be primaried by a conservative in kentucky. highly unlikely to pass muster here in the senate, much less over to the house of representatives and, again, chris, talking about this over the cliff and then becomes a vote to cut taxes instead of allowing taxes to rise on the top 1% or 2%. at this point, that seems like the most likely scenario. we've been surprised before. but it appears we are heading in that direction, craig. >> really quickly here, walk us through the timetable. if a deal does come from the white house or if a deal does

come from senator mcconnell, break down what's going to happen over the next 48, 72 hours. >> reporter: there are procedural hurdles to clear in the senate in particular. if they find something to agree upon to avert going over the cliff, they can do anything if they have the votes, craig. that's what it comes down to time and time again. when's good for the country, what's good for the party, after the thumping they got in the election, john boener is n erbo running for speaker of the house. and that's what the concern is here. too many of them not voting to raise taxes in any way, shape or form. if they have the votes, they can do it tomorrow and the wink of an eye, craig. >> all right. from the hill, hope you haven't made new year's plans, good sir. >> reporter: no. let's bring in new jersey congressman bill pascrell, member of the ways and means committee and the budget committee. always good the see you. >> a pleasure.

how are you doing? happy new year, christmas and hanukkah. >> to you, as well. you are wearing the holiday sweater there. you're hanging out in jersey. president and senate back to work together. when do you expect that the house speaker might be calling you back to washington? >> we had two false alarms yesterday and today so i'm still back here, not getting on am track. i want to get back there because that's where we belong right now to do the business of the nation. and you know what? i hope john boehner thinks the same way as we should be thinking, democrats and republicans. this is not a question of who's to blame for where we are now or getting more of the blame. i don't like it when democrats talk in that vein. look. if we don't do this together, the american people our ratings 9% or 10% as it is. they can't go lower. the institution suffers and the nation suffers. we need to resolve. the president put out a

compromise last week. they don't want compromise. the 55 members of the tea party most of them don't want compromise. >> what do they want, congressman? >> i don't know what they want. they to take to us down. they wanted to close the government down if you remember in 2011. they didn't care. the president compromised. we finally came up with a deal. when we came to the debt ceiling. and beginning to pay our bills. and continuing to pay our bills. they didn't really care. i think that's what they were set out to do. to close the government. we are in a season where we need to act. >> you, congressman -- >> on something concrete. >> i didn't mean to interrupt you there but it sounds like you think it's a deliberate attempt to take the economy, the government. >> yeah. 55. the tea party members. not john boehner. john boehner's allowed himself to be captured by the fellows. he is above and beyond that. i think he's basically trying to do the right thing but he can't

get a vote out of his own party for his own legislation. who does he turn to? the president of the united states? more worried about getting a proposition from the president to turn down then what proposition is he talking about? i think the president has been more than willing to compromise and the democrats in the house of representatives. we need 30 votes to get beyond our 190 that we have now. 191 in the house and 218 to pass anything. i think if harry reid does it, fine. let him do it. we need to think of what the country needs more than what each party does and concerned about the election on january 3rd? if nothing happens, he may have to worry about the election, john boehner. what i would advise him to do, he doesn't seek my advice, let me give you some advice. be what you want to be. do what you have to do. and democrats will support you if you do that. >> do you think at this point

there's even enough time to get a deal done? realist achally. >> absolutely. there is time. now, i know we went out of session today and won't be in session technically until monday. that can change over the weekend. through emergency. so what happens to saturday and sunday? i mean, we all rather be with our families and friends but the fact is america needs this done right now. you know what's disappointed me most of all, craig? talking heads, many of them on television and some members of my own party saying, well, it won't be as bad. we'll take it up in the new congress. i think that's the wrong philosophy. things aren't going to be any better now. these characters on the other side are not going to change their mind between now and january the 3rd. and they want a pound of flesh, two pounds of flesh afterwards. now's the time to do it. >> always a pleasure to talk to you and i would like to point out it's an emergencies that you

and your colleagues in congress helped kree yit. >> yes. by the way, there's other things involved to be working on right now. money for sandy, the money -- >> what's the latest on that? really quickly. >> the senate's got to pass it. amendments to be taken care of. you say you don't have enough time to do this legislation that will keep us from drifting in to a recession, we need to do the same thing, the same amount of courage to deal with sandy right away and stop nitpick this legislation. >> congressman -- >> new jersey and new york are presenters when it comes to taxes. our state's pay high taxes. when were there when katrina victims, that's beside the point of red or blue states. you do what you have to do. that's what needs to be done right now. not only is the budget critical right now, sandy's critical and a lot of other thing that is

need to be done there. amt. >> all right. >> look at the folks -- >> congressman. >> don't have a payroll. >> congressman, i have to cut you off. >> okay. >> but thank you so much. >> thank you, craig. >> keep us posted on the progress if there is any. we have developing news now from the senate. just moments ago, vice president joe biden swore in hawaii's lieutenant governor brian schatz as the state's new u.s. snr. >> do you swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of your office upon which you're about to enter, so help you god? >> i do. >> congratulations, senator. >> thank you. >> welcome. >> senator brian schatz succeeds daniel inouye who died last week. he was appointed by the

governor. a move that is not without some controversy because it went against the senator's death bed wish. nbc news senior political editor mark murray joining me now live. he wanted someone else to succeed him. >> he wanted house member colleen hanabrusa to succeed him and very interesting you don't have that type of personal demand, particularly as someone is nearing the state where senator inouye was to replace me in the united states senate. there is a little political intrigue in hawaii as there is in all states. and the fact is that senator inouye and the governor always probably didn't always see eye to eye.

when am congressmbercrombie he challenged in the fight and some ways the govern nor might not have seen the senator as someone whose word he totally needed to respect to the very end and he decided to go in his own way. >> what do we know about the kind of senator that mr. schatz might be? >> well, it remains to be seen. very well safe to say that he is a liberal democrat and someone to support the democratic agenda. in fact, he was able -- he tweeted riding on air force one with the president on the way in to washington today he will certainly do what the administration wants on this front. of course, president obama is from hawaii. probably the biggest elected leader from the aloha state and that's what we know about senator schatz as of now. but boy, he is the newest member of the u.s. senate and some new senators coming with the beginning of the 113 congress right at the beginning of the year. >> i understand senate majority leader reid urged governor

abercrombie to act with due haste with his appointment. is that because he thinks that the senator may play some sort of instrumental role to solving the fiscal cliff crisis? >> that's right and the pieces of legislation. democrats wanted that extra vote. if not for the so-called fiscal cliff debate they're trying to strike a deal on. that would be also on other legislation that would come up with 113th congress. democrats want to ensure they have 55 votes when the 113th congress begins on january 3rd. >> senior political editor mark murray for us on this thursday, appreciate it, sir. >> thank you, craig. outrage of russian president vladimir putin's decision to sign a bill to block americans from adopting russian children and a video of a squarm bursting in a shopping mall. details on that story around the "news nation."

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russian president vladimir putin vowing today to sign a controversial bill that bars americans from adopting russian children. the move would block dozens of children now in the process of being adopted by american families from leaving russia. nbc's duncan galastoni joining me live in london. walk us through how we got here. >> well, okay, craig. so this goes back to designing to punish those of human rights abuses, it is american legislation. it blacklists russian officials alleged to have been involved in the prison death of an anti-corruption lawyer. in retaliation, lawmakers in moscow passed a bill to ban american families from adopting russian children. it's now up to president vladimir putin whether he signs

it in to law and today he gave every indication he will. he told a meeting so far i see no reason not to sign it although i have to review the final text and weigh everything. if it comes in to law on january 1st, it is uncertainty for around 46 american families who have adoptions being processed right now. criticism has come from the state department which says it is misguided to link the fate of children to unrelated political considerations. but criticism also in russia and from within president putin's own party. that's because russia has an adoption problem. last year, more than 100,000 children living in state institutions and russians themselves do not adopt in large numbers. in comparison over the last two decades, more than 60,000 russian children have been taken in by american families. no other country helps more. some russian politicians say it's an embarrassment their

country doesn't care for its own and they hope the bill will encourage people to act. craig? >> duncan, from our london bureau today, thank you. sir, do appreciate that. back here, guns for groceries in los angeles tops the look at stories around the news nation today. the lapd collected more than 2,000 guns from the anonymous buy back program. the weapons were turned in, no questions asked in exchange for grocery gift card worth up to 200 bucks. the event held earlier than planned because of the school massacre in newtown, connecticut. in china, 16 people recovering after an aquarium in shanghai mall, there it is right there, it burst open last week. investigators say a combination of low temperatures and weak materials caused it. the 33-ton tank housed sharks, hurtles and some fish, as well. some of those animals died. toyota paying more than $1 billion in a record settlement

of defects. it's the end of a four-year battle between the automaker and hundreds of car owners who allege that recalls over acceleration problems caused the value of the cars to depreciate. breaking news for you right now from the house a few minutes ago, house gop aides say that house leader cantor told the republican conference that the entire house would be coming back sunday night at 6:30. again, eric cantor telling folks that the house will be called back sunday evening, 6:30. meanwhile, speaker boehner reportedly told members, quote, his words here, we have done our job. it is now up to the senate to act. we'll see if they do anything. we'll be right back with our gut check. or you can get out there and actually like something. the lexus december to remember sales event is on. this is the pursuit of perfection.

a lot going on today and here's some of the things we thought you should know. epa administrator jackson the

latest member of the cab note announce she's stepping down next month and ready for new challenges and time with her family. her tenure marked by high profile brawls with industry and congressional republicans over issues of global warming, pollution and of course the keystone oil pipeline. also new controls on coal fired plants, as well. court dwokmentes show mike crapo of utah admitted several shots of vodka before being arrested early sunday in alexandria, virginia. released on $1,000 bond and scheduled to appear in court january 4th. finally, new study shows that african-american voter turnout in november may have topped the rate for whites for the first time ever. the study says that turnout rate for all voters fell more than 3% be white voters accounting for most of that drop. and those are just a few of the things we thought you should know on this thursday. time for the gut check in

the wake of the connecticut school shooting tragedy, gun rights advocates are offering firearms training for teachers. in arizona's attorney general proposing to allow a teacher in every school to carry a gun. all of this coming after the nra called for armed guards at every school and on msnbc and the past hour, the head of the american federation of teachers disagreed with such policies. >> i don't want to be cynical about this, but what we really need is actually less guns in schools, not more guns in schools. we have had police officers in schools and we have had met call detectors in schools but police officers are or armed guards did not stop the shooting in virginia tech. it did not stop the shooting in columbine. >> what does your gut tell you? a good idea for teachers to carry a concealed weapon at

school? go to facebook.com/newsnation to vote. that does it for this edition. i'm craig melvin. we' seal you back here tomorrow but "the cycle" is up next. ese add up to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. i need you. i feel so alone. but you're not alone. i knew you'd come. like i could stay away. you know i can't do this without you. you'll never have to. you're always there for me. shh! i'll get you a rental car. i could also use an umbrella. fall in love with progressive's claims service.

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